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  • Science Is Wrong
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  • The extreme end and/or reason for Science Is Bad. May overlap by also presenting scientists as bad and wrong. Science is badong. In this trope, science is simply wrong: it lacks objectivity and does not describe anything "real". There are a number of general forms in which the error of science is considered: This is not the same kind of wrong as that in the Scale of Scientific Sins: there it's ethically wrong. Obviously, good scientists are rare where this trope is invoked. Examples of Science Is Wrong include:
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  • The extreme end and/or reason for Science Is Bad. May overlap by also presenting scientists as bad and wrong. Science is badong. In this trope, science is simply wrong: it lacks objectivity and does not describe anything "real". There are a number of general forms in which the error of science is considered: * As culturally constructed rather than objective, and thereby does not describe any "facts." * As a system of beliefs and processes crafted by Dead White European Men (DWEM) and thus irrelevant and destructive to groups X, Y, Z... * As simply ineffectual in providing an adequate understanding of the world. * Much more rarely, in a fictional verse, the natural laws (or at least some of them) are such that attempts to analyze them scientifically are doomed to failure. In such a case, it's normally made clear that they're not commenting on science in the real world. This is not the same kind of wrong as that in the Scale of Scientific Sins: there it's ethically wrong. Strongly associated with the Romanticist side of Romanticism Versus Enlightenment, along with Science Is Bad. See also Mother Nature, Father Science, Aesoptinum, Science Marches On. A common feature of The Masquerade. When overlapping with Science Is Bad, can be associated with Dumb Is Good. If Science Is Useless, this may be because it's wrong. May be presented through a Straw Vulcan. This can be hard to reconcile with violations of Magic A Is Magic A. There really shouldn't be any reason a system of observation can't find a pattern with magic unless that magic is specifically changing its behavior upon being examined. Even when this is the case; it often seems the only time magic changes its rules is to invoke this trope. This can also contradict one of the most prevalent sub-tropes of Science Is Bad, namely, Technology Is Evil. After all, evil technology presumably works, which means that at least that science wasn't (empirically) wrong. One possible way to have both tropes is Aesoptinium; because science is wrong, the technology became evil in a way the scientists didn't intend, though we can still say Science Is Bad because the scientists should have known better than to make something with Potential Applications. Often any Agent Scully questioning the magic isn't really using science but rather a belief in machines. A good scientist wouldn't only complain that something isn't possible upon discovering something that contradicts previous knowledge. They'd explore the implications, test why the result is happening, see if it can be replicated, and list the various causes and effects that can be observed related to the event -- although, admittedly, many would be quick to dismiss any claims of the supernatural out of hand, because the supernatural is kind of by definition stuff that shouldn't work. TL;DR: If Science is Wrong is proven, it becomes a scientific worldview. Obviously, good scientists are rare where this trope is invoked. Examples of Science Is Wrong include: